Button feeding and attaching device.



J. J. BRELL.

BUTTON FEEDING AND ATTACHING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-25, I914.

Patented Jan. 16,1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

",TQ' "W u .I. J. BRELL.

BUTTON FEEDING AND ATTACHING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.25, 1914.

Patented Jan. 16, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

ML'MS frail.

.iULIUs J. BRELL, or new roan, N. Y.

BUTTONFEEDING AND ATTACHING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Jan, 16, 191?.

Application filed August 25, 1914. Serial No. 858,438.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUS J. BRELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Button Feeding and Attaching Devices, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to place a button into a sewing machine and under a needle of the same with the button holes and needle in proper registration, the button being turned so as to register with the needle while under the same. For a more partlcular description of my invention, reference is to behad to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sewingmachine provided with my improvement. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 1, parts being shown in section. Fig.

' 3 is a sectional view showing the buttonholding mechanism. Figs. 4 and 5 show portlons of the button-reg]storing device,

- whereby the button is brought into proper alinement with the needle of the sewing-machine to which.the device is attached. Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken through the button feeding device.- Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken longitudinallyof the machine, parts only being shown. Fig. 8 shows a slide and button stop over the same. Fig. 9 shows the lower end of a trough down which buttons are fed.

Throughout the various parts of the drawings, similar reference characters designate similar parts.

A. sewing-machine 1, provided with my improvement, has suitable automatic placing mechanism 2, for causing the buttons to come into proper registration with the needle, the buttons being held by a suitable clamp 3 while being so placed. The automatic placing mechanism 2 consists in this embodiment of my invention of a pivot finger 50 mounted on a slidably arranged link 51 and held in its normal position by a spring 52 at its upper end, as shown in Fig. 5. The link 51, a little in the rear of its middle, passes through the adjustably mounted guide 53 on top of which is a leaf spring 54 which normally holds the link 51 in its lowermost position. The link 51 is adjustably comiected by a screw 55 to a "pivoted wrist 56 that runs to a clevis 57 which is pivotally mounted on a link 58 and normally kept against the guide 53 by a small coil spring 59, as shown, .11: will be apparent from the foregoing description that the link 51 has a universal movement because it has two pivotal connections, the pivots being disposed" one horizontally and the other vertically. The link 58 runs to a t'readle mechanism 46 by which this link may be drawn in the direction of its length by the action of 'the treadle mechanism 46, and it is so drawn against the tension of a coil spring 60 which has one end mounted on a stud rising from a guide 61 and the other end secured to a stud 62 fixed to the link 58 and riding in a suitable slot 63 in the guide 61.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the holes in the button 11 are wiped by the fing'er 50 as the same is withdrawn under the action of the spring 60, and that in withdrawing this finger will rotate the button so as to have its openings register with the needle of the sewing machine. It is also apparent that the pivoting of the link 51, as above described, will permit the free end of this link, with its finger 50, to rise and fall between the jaws of the clamp 3 so as to cause it to register with the needle of themachine and then withdraws altogether from the button so as not to interfere in any way with the needle mechanism. To per-- form these functions, the spring finger is pressed forward and drawn back and raised and lowered by suitable mechanisms which may be of any desiredkind.

A chute 5 runs from a hopper, or other device, not shown, whichsupplies buttons with the proper side up to an intermittent gate 6, which permits only one button to pass at one operation. nism 6 is connected to a slide 7, which runs in a suitable guide 8, and shoves one button into the clamp 3 (see Fig. 7), and then retreats under the tension of a spring 9,"so that another button may come into the position shown at 10 in Fig. 7, while the first This gate niechabutton, that is, the button 11 in this figure, is being'acted upon by the registering mecha- The guides 8 are properly supported from the frame of the sewing-machine 1 by a bracket 12, or any other suitable means, and on this bracket 12, is an upright 13, in which is mounted, an adjusting screw 14, which acts as a stop to limit-the inward, movement of the gate mechanism 6 in a manner which will be described below. The post 15 extends upwardly from this bracket '12, and engages one end of the spring 9 while the other end of the spring 9 connects with a corresponding post 16 that rises from the slide 7. At its inner end the slide 7 has a lip 17 which takes over a button 10 and at its outer end this slide has a thumbpiece 18, by means of which the slide is actuated. The 'thumbpiece 18 when shoved inwardly engages a suitable projection 19, which extends from the gate mechanism 6. This projection 19 has a main portion 20, which runs in the direction of its length in a suitable guide 21 secured to the under surface of the trough 5. This main portion carries on its upper surface two fingers 22-and 23, the former beingthe lower and the latter, the upper of these two fingers, that is, the finger 23 first engages a button, and later the finger 22 engages the same, as will appear below. A screw 24,

which is mounted on this slide 20, engagesa spring 25, and is moved by the projection 18 against the tension of this spring 25, so that when the thumbpiece 18 retreats under the action of the spring 9, a corresponding movement takes place with the slide 20v under the spring25, and continues until the movement ceases. This movement may be limited either by a stop or by the tension of the spring 25 as desired. The guide 21 carries a pin 26, which engages one end of the coiled spring 25, as shown in Fig. 6.

The slide 20, in addition to the fingers 22 and 23, carries also a cam 27 which runs parallel with these fingers and above the trough 5. This cam 27 has a beveled end 28, which is ada ted to ride under the lever 29 fulcrumed a 30. One end of this lever 29 is engaged by a spring 31, which runs to a screw 32 on the trough 5, and the other end is provided with a pointed screw 33, which runs to a slot 34 in the upper wall of this trough 5. The purpose of this projection 33 is to have a pointed instrument engage a button and check the flow of buttons while the fingers 22 and 23 are regulating the flow of buttons, so as to release one at a time. By referring to Fig. 9, the operation of these fingers 22 and 23 will be readily understood. I Assuming a button 10 is lowered against the finger 23. When this finger is moved against the tension of the spring 25, the button 10 will slide to the finger 22 which advances into the trough 5 as fast as the finger 23 leaves the trough, as

' both are mounted rigidly on the slide 20.

The finger 22 catches the button as it slides down, and holds it until it is released upon 22 retreats far enough,-the button 10 slides down the trough and rests in front of the slide 7, where it is ready to be shoved into the clamp 3 the next time the slide 7 is shoved forward. It will be noted that the slide 7 moves farther than the slide 20, and

that no button can get by the finger 22 until near the completion of the movement of the slide 20 and substantially at the comple tion of the movement of the slide 7. Innued'iately after the action of the slide 7 when shoving the button into the clamp 3, it is necessary that the jaws of 'thisclamp be spread sufficiently to permit the button to come true therein and far enough therein for proper registration with the needle. After the button is in place, as above described, the automatic registering mechanism 2 acts .tolcanse the button to rotate until its eyes are: in alinement with the needle of the sewing-machine, and then when the clamp 3 is lowered, the button is properly placed over the fabric or other article to which it is to be sewn. The needle mechanism then acts to sew the button in place. When so sewn, the'jaws of the clamp 3, upon being raised, are separated by the slide 35, which runs under them. This slide is made to retreat by means of the spring-pressed cam 36 which is pivoted at 37 to the bracket. 12, as shown in Fig. 1. The cam 36 may bepressed by any suitable spring, but is preferably pressed by a'leaf-spring 38, which is secured by a suitable screw 39 on the bracket 12. This cam has a beveled'edge 40, adapted to take into a corresponding recess 41 in the slide 35, so that when the clamp 3 and its connected parts begin to rise after the I button is sewn, this cam 36 separates the jaws 3, as set forth in my said application. This separation is momentary, and suflicient to clear the button, and then the cam 36 is made inoperative by means of its projection 42, which rubs a corresponding projection 43 on the clamp-lifting mechanism, so that after this clamp-lifting mechanism has been raised sufficiently, the parts 43 and 42 act on each other so as to force the cam 36 clear of the slot 41, and against the tension spring 36, as shown in Fig. 6, so that the clamp 3 will hold the next button 11 placed therein, and the cycle of the operation of the machine may be indefinitely repeated,

as above described.

Power for operating the needle is trans ,embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that it is not restricted thereby, as it is broad enough to cover all structures that come within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is 1. In a machine of the class described,

mechanism for feeding one button at a time,

mechanism for clamping the button so fed, automatic mechanism for causing registra-' tion between the eyes of the button and the sewing-machine needle while the button is in the clamp and mechanism for releasing said button after the same is sewn to a fabric.

2. In a device of the class described, a clamp adapted to receive a button, a guide, and a slide moving in said guide and adapted to shift a button into said clamp and mechanism for causing a button hole to register with the needle while held in said clamp.

3. In a device of the class described, a clamp adapted to receive a button, a guide, adapted to deliver a button to said clamp, a slide in said guide for causing the button to move into said clamp, means for supplying the said guide with a button, after the return movement of said slide and mechanism for causing a button hole to register with the needle while held in said clamp.

4. In a device of the class described, a

clamp adapted to receive a button, a guide adjacent to said clamp, a slide in said guide adapted to move a button into said clamp, a projection extending from said slide, means for engaging said projection for controlling the movement of "buttons to said guide so that only one button at a time will enter said guide and mechanism for causing a button hole to register with the needle.

5. In a device of the class described, a

trough to receive buttons and means for supporting the same, a slide mounted in said trough, a sewing machine with a needle and a clamp adjacent to said slide and trough, and mechanism for causing a button to turn in the clamp while under the needle so that a hole of the button will register with the needle. v

I 6. In a device of the class described, a

trough to receive buttons, a slide, a cam secured to said slide, and a lever adapted to engage said cam, and check the flow of buttons in said trough when forced against said buttonsby' said cam.

7 In a device of the class described, a clamp for holding buttons having jaws adapted to approach each other, a slide adapted to separate said jaws, and a cam adapted to engage said slide so as to shift the same and open said jaws, a projection on said cam, and a projection on the machine adapted to engage said first mentioned projection so that when these two projections engage, the cam will be forced clear of the slide, whereby when the device is in use, the slide will be moved by the cam during the first part of its lifting, and not otherwise.

, JULIUS J. BRELL.

Witnessesz.

H. RADZINSKY, I ARTHUR MoNALLY. 

